As we reported here and here, Hunter Biden was indicted on nine tax counts on Thursday, including four counts of failure to pay taxes, two counts of filing false tax documents, two counts of failure to file taxes, and one count of tax evasion. The indictment alleges that Joe Biden's wayward son engaged in a "four-year scheme" not to pay taxes of at least $1.4 million. 

If found guilty of all charges, Hunter could face up to 17 years in prison.

Now that the dust is beginning to settle on the news, social media keyboard jockeys and some of the best legal minds in the country alike are analyzing the indictment — and weighing in with a myriad of opinions.

One such individual in the second category is legal scholar, author, and Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley. Turley's analysis of what the indictment didn't include is far more interesting — to me, anyway — than what it included.

In a Friday article, Turley observed that "The steps taken by Hunter to evade taxes are impressive, but not nearly as impressive as the efforts of the Justice Department to evade any direct implications for his father, President Biden."

"In that sense," Turley said, "the indictment itself is a marvel of evasion."

In other words, the George Washington University Law School professor charged, the DOJ very carefully and very intentionally wrote the indictment to protect Joe Biden from any implications of wrongdoing. 

'Three Glaring Omissions'

"There are three glaring omissions in the indictment that tend to shield critical payments and conduct that implicate the president," Turley wrote.

The Burisma-Ukrainian money

First, the special counsel only indicts tax evasion that occurred in recent years.

That’s because the long “investigation” into Hunter inexplicably allowed the statute of limitations to expire on the most controversial payments from Ukraine gas company Burisma.

Recent testimony from IRS whistleblowers suggests that wasn’t an accident. Investigators were stonewalled, they claimed, and the Justice Department was previously moving to reject any charges against Hunter Biden.

All the while, Joe Biden continued to make two statements, both of which cannot be correct. First, he has insisted that he never discussed Hunter's foreign business dealings with him. Second, he has continued to insist that Hunter "did nothing wrong." Damn, Joe, how can you know your crackhead son never did anything wrong if you never discussed his business dealings with him? You can't.

As Turley explained, exploring — and exposing — the early Ukrainian payments would have led to critical questions about Hunter’s influence peddling and would have shined a glaring spotlight on Joe's efforts to force the Ukrainians into firing the prosecutor investigating Burisma — by holding back a billion dollars in aid for the country.

Yet, where was the Justice Department? Intentionally "asleep" at the switch.

Hunter, the Unregistered Foreign Agent

Yep, nowhere to be found in the indictment. Here's Turley:

Recently, the Justice Department added a charge to the indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) that he ran afoul of FARA, the Foreign Agents Registration Act. FARA also was used to go after Donald Trump associates such as Paul Manafort.

The problem with charging Hunter with FARA is obvious.

It opens up questions about the millions of dollars going to the Biden family from foreign sources, a topic that Attorney General Merrick Garland has spent years avoiding.

Turley noted that Special Counsel David Weiss, in the second indictment, spent more time detailing the "salacious use of the money" rather than how and why it was given to the Bidens in the first place. The latter is far more important, don't you think?

Hunter, the Unindicted Co-Conspirator

"By focusing on tax evasion alone," wrote Turley, "Weiss again avoids any direct reference to the focus of the influence-peddling used to raise these millions of dollars."

However, he opined:

Even without mentioning the president, the implications of the indictment are devastating for the narrative and denials of Joe Biden.

The president has continued to maintain that he had no knowledge or interaction with these dealings. Those statements are clearly and knowingly false.

The president also maintained that his son has “never done anything wrong” and never accepted any money from China. 

That is also untrue, according to the Justice Department and Hunter himself.

And here's the key from the professor, emphasis mine: "Yet Weiss continues to avoid any need to address the person who was the selling point of the influence peddling."

It was the same person who repeatedly called in to dinners and meetings, repeatedly attended events, and held meetings and photo shots for these clients.

Instead, Weiss indicts the failure to pay taxes on the proceeds of these dealings without addressing that underlying corruption.

It is akin to arresting a bank robber for speeding away from the crime scene without mentioning the reason for his flight.

Finally, Turley wryly observed: "It takes perfect aim not to avoid any contact. It is itself the very model of evasion."

The Bottom Line

As has been the case from the beginning of the Biden presidency, the early line on this case suggests that while Hunter might very well be convicted — Daddy Joe is on record saying he wouldn't pardon his wayward son — it's not hard to see the likelihood of "The Big Guy" avoiding justice. 

Legally, that is, and that would be a travesty of justice of the worst kind.